Masonic Notes And Qjjeries.

WHEN WAS BEO . THE PBINCE OE WALES & . M . ? A learned brother , J . A . H ., at page 7 of this volume , says , "Long live our Royal Past Grand Master . " "When was H . R . H . the Prince of Wales M . W . G . M . —in 1867 , 1868 , I 860 , or 1870 ? ancl where can he become a P . G . M . until he has been installed as G . M . ? Was he M . W . G . M . before he was initiated , or after ? —A NEW MEMBEE .

LODGE LIST , 1765 . Iu 1765 there were still 113 English lodges surviving older than 1740 , including many provincial lodges now extinct , but it is quite possible there were provincial lodges of old constitution not registered with the Grand Lodge of England . If it were

not so , the spread of Masonry in the provinces in the first 20 years after the foundation of Grand Lod ge would have borne a small proportion to metropolitan extension . —B . B .

This list of yours is apparently not very ancient , hut it is a list on which the old lodges were only 40 years old , and the main portion of the old lodges not more than a quarter of a century . At that time , in 1765 , very few lodges had distinctive names , but they were named after the

publichouses where they met , if they could be said to have names at all , for it will be seen that several lodges have numbers only . On No . 1 there is the curious entry : — "Every fourth Wednesday there is a Master ' s Lodge . " This looks as if No . I had a specialtfor the Master ' s

y degree . Here is a chance for our learned brother Hughan . Further , — " It is also the West India and American Lodge . " No doubt it had much to do in spreading Masonry in America and the West Indies . —ANNOTATOE .

THE CONGEESS ON CELESTIAL MYSTEBIES . Devonport is a School of Masonry , including some learned and zealous Masons , but unless they have provided a few men of science to satisfy the outside world , their decision will be considered of little value . They want—among others—astronomersastrologers

, , Hebraists , Egyptologists , men familiar with the three kinds of cuneiform inscriptions ( the language of one , which is termed Akkad , is not known as yet , unless to Bro . Melville ) , proficients in sytnbology , chronologists , & c—OBSEEVEE .

As the astrolabe (?) was exposed at Nineveh , and is exposed at the British Museum , what ground can there be for supposing that the scientific explanation of it ought to be kept from the public , merely because the alleged interpreter is a Freemason ? This I ask , heeause as yet all discoveries iu the branches of

Syro-Egyptiau science have been freely made known by the Government , the Societies , and by men of science . — W . M . THE MAKE DEGREE . —MASONIC JUEISBEUDENCE . The Mark degree exists and has existed in several countries .

It is not under the ban of constituted authority as un-Masonic . It is permissible to practise it in England , although Grand Lod ge and Grand Chapter do not at this moment , but may again , recognise it as a part of the English Craft system .

Masonic Notes And Qjjeries.

It consequently becomes a question whether Mark lodges must remain isolated as single lodges , without co-operation and without any provision for uniformity of system , or whether they can join together , as 'l ' emplars and others have done , to obtain a common administration , as a Grand Chapter , Grand Lodge ,

Directory , or Grand Conclave . If this can be in any degree permitted , the organization would be called Grand Lodge , because the units are Lodges , and not Grand Conclave or Grand Chapter . There is no harm in calling such a body Grand

Lodge . It does not invade any jurisdiction or privilege of the Grand Lodge of England by such name , any more than the Grand Lodge of England , by calling itself a Grand Lodge , invades any jurisdiction or privilege of the Grand Lodge of Scotland . If a Grand Lodge of Mark Masters elects a G . M .,

he no more affects the M . W . G . M . of England than does the G . M . of the Templars or the G . M . of anything or anyone else . . The spirit of . modern Masonic jurisprudence is to comply with the requirements of the time according to the dictates of common sense . —MAEK .

EOSE CEOIS ( p . 3 ) . Some brother will oblige by giving the Latin of the Latin , or the Latin of the English translations of the interesting article on the Rose Croix , by Dnalxo . Natura renovantur Integra and Igne Nitrum Soris Novenitur are rather puzzling to one not accustomed to Masonic Latin . —A CONST , \ NT READEE .

TEAS OE BIGHT . A correspondent in your last number wishes to know why the Tear of Light of Masons should differ with the clerical Anno Mundi : and also he desires to be informed when stars were first adopted in Masonry . Without reference to the conflicting opinions of various nations as to the date of Creation ,

let it suffice that our own clericals do not agree aa to whether it took place 4 , 000 or 4 , 004 before the birth of the Saviour . The days set forth in Creation are by some interpreted to mean years . The first verse of Genesis records the beginning by the creation of heaven and earth . Light , or the sun , was

not brought forth until the fourth day or year , hence the 4 , 000 and the 4 , 004 . Masons date from the sun ; therefore they add 4 , 000 to Anno Domini , and this year is with them the year of light 5869 . The same correspondent wishes Bro . Buchan to tell him when stars were first used in Masonry ? By doing so through your Magazine , Bro . Buchan will not only oblige Bro . Nekum but likewise—HENEX MEIVTLIE .

BEO . MELVILLE AND HIS ASTBOLABE . Bro . Melville is quite welcome to believe his Assyrian monument an astrolabe , a warming-pan , or a chamber-jug , but he must allow others to believe their own eyes . No mysberious intimations will enable anyone to restore sciences which never existed and never were lost . —J . W . M .

TEE Historical Commissioners have got so fur into their work as to have appointed four travelling deputies—one each for England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales—who will have to visit country houses , and report on the literary treasures which may be found in them .